Cambridge to address Port flooding with $50M project

Wednesday

The city plans to spend $50 million over the next seven years to reduce flooding in the Port, a longstanding issue that is estimated to only worsen with climate change.

“The work we’ve done with our climate change preparedness has really highlighted the flooding issues in the Port,” said Kathy Watkins, assistant commissioner for engineering in the Department of Public Works. “In a decent-sized storm you can get flooding today. Projected into the future, it only gets worse, which makes it particularly important to get this work done."

Over the last decade or more, the city has spent an additional $20 to $30 million on various other projects in preparation for this current overhaul. The first of which was the installation of a large storm water pipe system along Massachusetts Avenue from Lafayette Square to the Charles River. Before that there was nowhere to discharge storm water, according to Owen O’Riordan, DPW commissioner.

“That project allowed us to begin to think about this particular one, which includes storage and pumping systems,” said O’Riordan.

Several other projects were completed over the following decade, including one three years ago on Binney Street and Land Boulevard in which a large catchment area was installed to allow even more water to be discharged to the river.

“All of these projects’ primary focus is how to reduce flooding in the Port,” said O’Riordan. “There’s been an enormous amount of investment into this issue. This is just the next phase to be done in the immediate neighborhood, which couldn’t be done until the neighboring stuff was complete.”

The city prioritized these issues after devastating floods took place in the mid- to late-1990s in the Port and Alewife neighborhoods, O’Riordan said.

Particulars of plan

The current plan, which will improve sewer drainage, streets and sidewalks, will include constructing two underground storm water storage tanks. The water in those tanks will then be pumped away from the Port to the Charles River through a 5-foot-wide pipe along Massachusetts Avenue. The city is looking to install the pipe underneath the Red Line, so the MBTA is currently reviewing the plan, Watkins said.

The first phase of the project, which will begin in January 2018, is to build a tank in parking Lot 6, behind the McDonald’s in Central Square and across from St. Paul’s AME Church.

The second phase will move into the neighborhoods, looking at roadway and sidewalk improvements along streets like Cherry, Pine and School and Bishop Allen Drive, according to Watkins. A second stormwater tank will be installed underneath the basketball courts in Morgan Park on Columbia Street.

Cambridge Arts also stepped in, calling for applications for a one-time grant to create new artistic and cultural projects for the Port neighborhood. These would be implemented between 2017 and 2021. The city received 70 applications as of the grant’s closing date last week.

Watkins said the department is excited to work with the community.

“This is a significant commitment to [the Port]," said Watkins. "I definitely see it as an environmental justice issue in terms of needing to protect one of our more vulnerable neighborhoods.”